Zap
by Catgirlie
Summary: It's the Golden Trio's 8th year, and Hermione's discovered a new game to play: Zap. Pure silliness! Oneshot. :P


**A/N: Just a silly oneshot. Hope you enjoy it! (And don't forget to drop a review! :D)  
Note: For those of you who don't get what 8th year is, it's essentially the year that Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts to finish school. I know it's not in the books, but I've always figured that it happened at some point... I thought it was a bit self-explanatory once you read the first few paragraphs, but I guess it isn't.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it!**

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"Harry! HARRY!"

Harry Potter turned around to see a head of bushy brown hair coming towards him through the huge crowd of people at King's Cross Station, on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

"Hermione!" he grinned.

"Harry, I've just learned the most fantastic game... I'll show you in our carriage!" an enthusiastic Hermione nearly yelled.

Harry looked puzzled, but nodded. "Let's find one near the back. After last year, the younger years are going to _swarm_ us..."

It was the year after the Battle of Hogwarts and most of the students from the previous year had returned to finish their schooling, although Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't sure they could handle all of the new fame it had brought them. As soon as Harry and Hermione stepped onto the train, a mob of first-years attacked.

"It's two-thirds of the Golden Trio!" one shouted excitedly.

"Let's get the others!"

"How did you do it?"

"You're so brave!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

Harry and Hermione rushed away to a carriage where, unfortunately, Draco Malfoy and several other Slytherins sat. But contrary to their expectations, they were not at all hostile. Instead, they smiled warmly at the two and Draco said, "Hello Potter, Granger. How were your holidays?"

Both gaped at him. "But... You... What?" Harry spluttered.

"You saved my life last year," said Draco breezily, "of course I'm not going to be a brat to you anymore."

Harry and Hermione continued to look at him, shocked, and in a daze, they left the compartment.

"Bye!" Draco called after them.

In the next compartment, they found Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, and Ginny and Ron Weasley.

"Hey, Harry, Hermione!" grinned Neville. "It's great to see you!"

Before anyone else could say a word, Hermione burst out, "All of you have to try this game I discovered over break!"

"Okay," Ginny shrugged. "How do you play?"

"Well, it's called 'zapping.' And you play by writing 'ZAP' and a time on the back someone's hand, then on their palm, you write another person's name. The person isn't allowed to look at the name until the specified time, but if they do, they have to ask the person out!" Hermione grinned. "And to ensure that no one cheats, I can place a charm on it so that if they do they're placed under a powerful love spell..."

"Wow, Hermione, that's pretty sinister," snickered Ron.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You only say that because you'd really cheat."

"I wouldn't!" exclaimed Ron, his face turning red.

Suddenly, Harry yelled, "ME FIRST!"

"Yay!" Hermione cried, shoving her hand into her beaded bag and pulling a marker out. Everyone stared at it in puzzlement.

"Bloody hell," said Ron, "what's that? It looks like a... One of those... Y'know..."

"It's a marker, Ron," Harry explained. "It's a Muggle thing."

"What's it supposed to do?" asked Neville.

"It's like a quill, but it has ink in it," Hermione supplied, "and it's a lot less sharp."

"Muggles are bloody geniuses," said Ron in awe.

Hermione pulled the cap off and began writing with the brown marker. "Seven... Oh... Two..." she muttered, before turning his hand over and quickly scribbling something else.

"I have to wait until seven to look? How am I supposed to do that?" asked Harry, flabbergasted.

Hermione grinned mischievously. "I suppose you'll have to try. Or you could look, and you'd have to ask the person out..."

"Me next!" said Ron eagerly, although he still didn't quite understand the game.

Hermione scribbled _Zap, 3:07_ on his hand before writing a name on his palm. Harry complained, "How come he gets to look at it earlier than I do?"

Ron looked down at his hand immediately. "What the bloody hell, Hermione? You gave me _Neville_?"

"Ron, you're not supposed to _look_ at it!" Hermione exclaimed crossly. "Now you have to ask him out..."

Neville stared at Ron and Hermione blankly. "What?"

"What d'you _mean_, I have to ask Neville out? I'm not a bloody poof, Hermione!" yelled Ron.

"Well, that's what you agreed to when you looked at the words," she grinned smugly, "so now you have to."

"I'm not going to ask Neville out!" he cried indignantly. "No bloody way!"

"You have to, Ron," Hermione said factually, "or else you'll fall in love with him forever. That's part of the spell I put on my marker!"

His face turning a deep shade of puce, Ron finally spluttered, "Fine... Neville... Will you—ugh, this is _awful_, Hermione!—go out with me?"

"No thanks," said Neville calmly.

Ron sighed in relief. "Thank Merlin. I thought I was going to have to date you or something. Not that you're ugly, Neville, it's just that I don't like boys."

"Don't worry," Neville said, "I'm not offended."

Luna suddenly piped up, "I want to go next!"

She took the marker with ease and began writing on Hermione's hand dreamily, taking an inordinately long amount of time.

"I'm sorry I'm taking so long," she said breezily, "but I can't seem to remember how you spell Ron's middle name."

"You're giving me _Ron_?" exclaimed Hermione.

"You're giving her _me_?" spluttered Ron.

"You're clearly a match," said Luna, unfazed, "so why not? There. I'm done!"

"Well, I already know who it is, so I might as well look..." Hermione sighed.

Luna was giggling uncontrollably. It was indescribably odd.

"Wait!" yelled Hermione, furious. "You gave me _Harry_! Luna, you tricked me!"

"I knew you'd fall for it," Luna said between giggles.

Hermione sighed again. "Fine. Harry, will you go out with me?"

"I'm going out with Ginny. Sorry, 'Mione," Harry grinned.

"Yeah, don't try stealing my boyfriend!" Ginny snapped.

Hermione glared at both of them. "I don't like Harry like that, Ginny, and if either of you even _try_ calling me ''Mione' again, I swear, I will rip you limb from limb."

Both Harry and Ginny paled in fear. Everyone knew how powerful Hermione could be when she wanted to be...

By then, the Hogwarts Express was halfway to the school.

"Is it seven yet?" Harry whined.

"No, Harry, just stop it," said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

Ron yelled, "I want to try!"

He grabbed the marker from Hermione's hands and stared at it, dumbfounded. "How am I supposed to write with this again? The tip disappeared..."

"You have to take the cap off, Ron," laughed Hermione.

"Where's the cap?"

Hermione sighed. "I'll show you."

She pulled the cap off and handed it back to him. His eyes were as round as saucers.

"That's bloody amazing."

"It's not that great, Ron."

"Are you sure Muggles don't have magic?"

"I'm sure, Ron."

"I'm not."

"Just get on with it!"

"How are you supposed to write with this?"

Hermione sighed. "Just forget it, Ron!"

"No! I want to zap Ginny!"

"You hold it like you hold a quill, but it just takes a bit of adjusting," she replied exasperatedly.

"Ohhh," Ron said, holding the marker wrong.

He started to write on the back of Ginny's hand.

"Ron, you're holding it upside down."

"Huh?"

"Just flip it over, Ron."

Ron finally started writing correctly.

"Hah!" he said triumphantly. "You can't read it until midnight!"

"That's okay," said Ginny, "I'll just look at it now."

Ron looked disappointed.

"Seamus Finnigan. Oh, okay. I'll be back in a moment."

"I can't believe she didn't get mad!" Ron yelled once she'd left.

"Of course she wouldn't. She doesn't even like Seamus, and she's always been pretty calm about stuff," said Harry.

Ron glared at him. "How do you know more about my sister than I do?"

Ginny came back at that very moment. "Seamus said no. Says he's dating Hannah Abbott."

Neville looked a bit crestfallen at that, but quickly schooled his features into an unreadable expression.

"No, never mind—I meant Pansy Parkinson." Neville perked up immediately.

"How the hell do you get Hannah Abbott and Pansy Parkinson mixed up?" asked Hermione incredulously.

"Have you seen Parkinson lately? She's changed quite a bit," said Ginny. "Without that look on her face all the time, she actually looks kind of pretty. And sort of like Hannah Abbott..."

"It's seven!" Harry yelled happily, looking at his hand. "I got... Pansy Parkinson? What?"

"I thought it'd be nasty. I guess it isn't, though," said Hermione. "And it isn't seven-oh-two yet, so you have to ask her out now."

Harry looked horrified and left the compartment in search of Pansy Parkinson.

Not long after, he returned with a grin on his face. "She said, 'Aren't you dating Weasley? I always knew you'd be a cheater,' and walked off!"

"Lovely, Harry," laughed Hermione.

The train had arrived at Hogwarts. "Looks like we'll need to get off now," said Luna dreamily, bringing the others back to reality.

"Oh, right," said Ginny. Everyone grabbed their trunks and hopped off to head to the carriages.

As they walked, Luna mused, "That was quite an eventful trip, wasn't it?"

"Oh, it definitely was," Neville replied.


End file.
